VW Group and its mega platform strategy

This is a discussion on VW Group and its mega platform strategy within Technical Stuff, part of the Under the Hood category; A goodread on how VW is competing by taking the strategy of creating multiple variations out of the same design ...

A goodread on how VW is competing by taking the strategy of creating multiple variations out of the same design ( maintaining commonality of parts ) to address the needs of different markets.

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Take that fundamental concept, stretch it across many different vehicle types, sizes and brands, then build them by the millions, and you begin to sense the enormity of Volkswagen's rapidly evolving "mega-platform" strategy and its potential impact on competitors around the globe.

3 Major platforms in VW group:

MQB : Modular Transverse Matrix - Small and medium front-wheel-drive family models, including the latest generations of the VW Golf and Audi A3, are being designed around MQB as their base

MSB : ultra-luxury and performance brands, designed for premium rear- and all-wheel-drive vehicles such as the Porsche 911, the Bentley Continental and the Lamborghini Gallardo.

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At a gathering in Japan five years ago, Renault (RENA.PA) and Nissan (7201.T) executives lifted the hoods on several VW Group vehicles side by side - including models from Skoda, Seat and Audi brands - and saw trouble.

While VW is the parent group, looks like each of the sub manufacturers are having an internal race. This is a move to jointly develop cars and save on some costs post the famously-infamous VW Diesel gate scandal. Somewhat eager to see what they come up with

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Audi and Porsche to join forces for vehicle development

FRANKFURT: Volkswagen Group's Audi and Porsche brands will join forces on vehicle development, the two upmarket brands said on Wednesday, to help the world's largest carmaker save money in the wake of its costly emissions test cheating scandal.

The pact comes as Volkswagen (VW) Chief Executive Matthias Mueller, who previously worked as Porsche's CEO and Audi's head of product management, finalises a plan to step up development of autonomous cars, electric vehicles and digital services.

Porsche and Audi said the focus was on jointly developing shared vehicle platforms, modules and components, in a deal that follows a period of intense in-house competition for development resources.

Projects will be jointly headed by representatives from each brand. In the coming months, joint teams will prepare the specific areas of cooperation and define a roadmap to 2025, they said.

Porsche, taken over by VW 2012, has emerged as a strong rival engineering centre to Audi. Porsche's MSB platform, used for its four-seater Panamera model, has been adopted for VW group's next generation Bentley Continental model even though Audi had developed a similar offering.

Since the group's emissions test cheating on diesel engines was exposed in September 2015, Audi has lost two research and development chiefs and the head of its automotive electronics division, who did pioneering work in the area of autonomous driving and battery technology.

Audi remains the group's centre of excellence for sport-utility vehicles, a lucrative and growing market, where it supplies platforms to Porsche and other brands such as Bentley.

With self-driving vehicles likely to play a major future role in the industry, Audi also develops autonomous cars for the group.

But a separate internal race has begun to become an engineering hub for electric vehicles, a field which includes research and development of battery cells, battery packs and electric motors.

Porsche has developed the J1 electric cars platform, while Audi has also worked on its own electric car.

Porsche has also taken over production of eight-cylinder gasoline engines for large sportscars for the VW group, even though Audi has its own engine factory in Hungary.

While VW is the parent group, looks like each of the sub manufacturers are having an internal race. This is a move to jointly develop cars and save on some costs post the famously-infamous VW Diesel gate scandal. Somewhat eager to see what they come up with

We can't deny the fact that the Porsche products like Cayenne, Macan share the underlying platform with it's VW & Audi brothers.
The diesels used in these models also originate from the stables of Audi.

So, there is already a lot of sharing going on.

However, in spite of all the sharing underneath, the difference between the Cayenne and a Toureg/Q7 is like chalk and cheese.
Same with the Macan, which blows into smithereens, the Q5, with which it shares many things.

Porsche certainly know how to spice up an average platform, and work exceedingly hard to make it the very best.

In the wake of VW's extreme measures, I hope Porsche are not made to suffer and lose their above mentioned 'abilities' and come up with 'compromises' in the name of 'joint' development.

I suspect there are several areas where a collaboration can happen without taking anything away from the distinct nature of the brands. For instance, connectivity and infotainment is one area. With a similar architecture, by donning different "skins", the systems could look very different. Even similarities in this feature isn't a terrible thing.

Although neither company referred specifically to VW’s TOGETHER Strategy 2025 plan for the future of electric vehicles at the company, the press release does indicate that the Porsche and Audi want to have a plan ready for how the cooperation will work until 2025

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Cooperation between the companies is by no means new. Porsche and Audi collaborated on the new 2.9-liter twin turbo V6 engine that powers the Porsche Panamera, the RS5 , and the coming RS4 Avant, but this new collaboration ensures that companies will share technology for years to come.

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That said, Porsche is intent on keeping its brand identity, so a 911 and an Audi with a common platform probably won’t ever happen